Bipartisan fix advancing for doctors’ pay

By RICARDO
ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
the Associated Press

Published: December 10, 2013;Last modified: December 11, 2013 05:00AM

WASHINGTON — It’s that time of year again: doctors caring for Medicare patients once more face a steep pay cut. But this time Congress is pursuing a permanent fix to the annual drama that has undermined the medical profession’s confidence in the nation’s premier health program.

A fundamental change in the budget equation has handed lawmakers a rare opportunity to repeal Medicare’s broken physician payment policy, while also freeing them from having to waive billions of dollars in impending cuts every year. Slowing health care inflation has slashed the cost of repealing the old formula, bringing it down to $116.5 billion over 10 years, according to the latest estimates.

Democrats and Republicans on both sides of the Capitol plan to push ahead this week with a framework for a new payment policy. Although a final fix will have to wait for next year, the new approach would set up financial carrots and sticks for doctors to provide quality, cost-effective care to more than 50 million elderly and disabled Medicare recipients. Up to 10 percent of an individual physician’s pay could eventually be linked to the doctor’s performance on quality indicators.

The plan would repeal the centerpiece of the old payment formula, a 1990s budget provision that mandates automatic cuts to doctors to limit Medicare spending. It became a symbol of government dysfunction after Congress got into the habit of regularly issuing temporary reprieves. Otherwise doctors might stop accepting Medicare patients.